Improvement in gates



UNITED VSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

D. It. WARFIELD, OF MUSOATINE, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN GATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,951, dated March 15,1864; antedated March 9, 1864.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, D. RWARFIELD, of Muscatine, in the county ofMuscatine and State of Iowa, have invented a new and`usefulImprovementin Gates or the Means Employed for Opening and Closing theSame; and I do hereby declare that the following` is a full, clear, andeX- act description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specication, in vvhich- Figure l is aside sectional view of my invention,taken in the line a; x, Fig. 2; Fig.2, an end view of the same, one of the levers being in section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both thefigures.

This invention relates to anew and improved means for opening andclosing gates to enable a person on horseback or in a vehicle to open orclose the gate without dismounting from the horse or getting out of thevehicle.

The invention consists in suspending the gate on an angular pivoted barplaced in a suitable framing and. arranged with a catch or fastening andlevers, as hereinafter fully shown and described.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to described it.

A represents a framing,which isv comprised of two upright posts, a a',and two central posts, b. The upper ends of the posts a a are connectedby two parallel horizontal bars, c c, the centers of which are supportedby posts b.

B is a fence, which is permanently attached to the post a and to one ofthe central posts b, and closes onehalf the space between the two postsa that is to say, the space between the post a and the posts b, as shownin Fig. 1.

C isa bar which is secured centrally between the two horizontal bars c cby a pivot, d. This bar C is of angular form, being inclined upward ateach side of the pivot d, as shown clearly in Fig. l.

D represents the gate, which may be made to correspond with the fence B.This gate has its posts e e extending upward a trifle above the bar C,the latter passing through mortises f f in the upper ends of the posts ee, the posts being connected above the bar C by a crossbar, g, in whichtwo rollers, h h, are tted, said rollers working on away, i, attached tothe upper surface of C.

-post a. 4sides of the bar G, so that the latter can be raised fromeither side ot' the gate, and the in- The gate D is thus suspended onthe bar C, andthe former is sulicicntly wide to cover the open spacebetween the post c and the posts b.

The bar Gis allowed to tilt or work freely on its pivot d, and it hasaweight, E, attached to it at one end, which weight has a tendency tokeep the part of the bar C directly over the space between the posts a'and b down in a horizontal position or a tride below that position,asshown in red in Fig. l. The bar C, when tilted so as to assumeapostionopposite to that above specied,as shownin black, Fig. l, is retained bya catch, F, which is composed of a bar, j, the lower end being securedby a pin or pivot, k, to the outer side of the posta',

yand its upper end passing up through a mortise,Z,in the end of bar 0,which projectsthrough a mortise, m, in the upper end of the post a', thebar j being provided with ashoulder, mon which the bar C rests. The barC is raised by means of levers G G, which are attached by fulcrum-pins oo to a framing, H, connected to These levers project from opposite nerends of these levers are fitted in a loop, p,

Vat the'under side of the bar C. In order to disengage the catch F toallow the loaded end of the bar C to fall, two small levers, q q, aresecured in post a at the bottom of the mortise m. These levers are bothconnectedat one end to the bar j by a ring, 1", and said levers at.

their opposite ends have each a cord, s, attached to them, and thesecords pass through guides t at the under sides of the levers G G, andproject down from said levers near their outer ends, as shown clearly inFig. 2. A spring, u, which is attached to the outer side of the post a',bears against the bar j and has a tendency to keep theshoulder n of thelatter under the bar C at the front edge of the mortise Ztherein.

From the above description it will be seen that'when the loaded end ofthe bar O is elevated and retained in that position by the catch F thegate D will be in an open state in consequence of the part of the bar Cover the space between the posts a b being inclined and causing the gateto descend byits own gravity upon the horizontal part of said bar abovethe fence, and when the bar G is relieved from the catch F,and theweight E tilts the bar C in the opposite direction, the gate will rundown the inclined part of the bariipon 'the horizontal part and be in aclosed state, as shown `in red in Fig. 1.

, The levers G G are sufficiently high to be within convenient reachingdistance of the rider or driver. The barj of the catch or fastening isdrawn back soas to release the bar C by pulling eitherof the cords s,the latter actuating the levers q q, and the latter the bar j.

The gate D is provided with a catch, ctx, at each end, which engage withpins bx to pre-` vent the gate from casually moving When in either anopen or closed state. These catches are raised from the pinsb by thetilting of

